Arsene Wenger insists he wants Robin van Persie to remain at Arsenal this season despite the striker being booed by some of the club’s fans during their friendly win over Cologne last night.

The Gunners won 4-0 in Germany and Van Persie received a mixed reception when introduced as a 69th-minute substitute.

Manchester United are favourites to sign the 29-year-old, who is thought to want to move to Old Trafford after becoming concerned at Juventus’ alleged involvement in Italy’s match-fixing scandal. Manchester City are also watching but no club has yet met Arsenal’s £20million asking price and Wenger believes Van Persie could stay despite the Dutchman publicly confirming he would not sign an extension to his contract that has 12 months left to run.

“Robin scored 30 goals last season and you want to keep your best player,” said the Arsenal manager. “He was player of the year in England. We want to keep him. I cannot tell you more at the moment because I don’t know more.

“There’s no news on Van Persie. Our fans want him to stay so you can understand they are excited. Anything I could say about Van Persie would be a lie because he’s our player and that’s it.” Arsenal are reluctant to sell such a key player to one of their fiercest rivals, and United believe the valuation is unrealistic given the player’s age and the length of his current contract, so there is a stand-off.

Both parties want the situation resolved before the start of the season and some movement is expected this week, although Arsenal are in better shape than last season when Samir Nasri departed in the final week of the transfer window.

New signing Lukas Podolski scored twice against his former club last night, while Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla also produced encouraging displays.